Sunday

Jul 29, 2012 at 12:01 AMJul 29, 2012 at 10:03 PM

Less than an hour went by Sunday morning between the time the Dolphins officially announced the signing of first-round pick Ryan Tannehill and the moment he first stepped on the field at training camp.

Not a minute to waste when you’re a rookie quarterback trying to make up for lost time.

While Tannehill missed only the first two days of camp and had been throwing to his receivers at the Dolphins’ training facility as recently as last week, even he told coach Joe Philbin that it "felt like an eternity" since he had worked with his teammates with the first pre-season game looming Aug. 10.

Tannehill’s first pass was — appropriately enough considering his mobility — a rollout throw down the right sideline for a completion to Roberto Wallace. While he ended the day with a pair of interceptions, both throws went through the hands of receivers.

"He threw the ball pretty well," coach Joe Philbin said. "His awareness for the first day was good."

"I thought he’d be pretty rusty, but he was pretty much on task on just about everything he did," added offensive coordinator Mike Sherman, who was Tannehill’s head coach at Texas A&M last year. "He didn’t seem to miss a beat … He was ahead of where I thought he’d be, particularly after a long night."

Tannehill, who on Saturday agreed to terms on a four-year deal worth $12.6 million, arrived from Bradenton, where he had been working with former Florida State quarterback Chris Weinke, early in the evening and stuck around until about midnight. After five hours sleep, he was back at the facility going over the day’s game plan with Sherman.

His workload was far from light — and that figures to be the case for the next few weeks.

"Our practices are structured where we’re getting a ton of reps," Sherman said. "We’re getting 150 to 160 snaps in practice. Normally your second and third quarterback wouldn’t get near as many as we’ve been seeing out here, but we’re working a couple groups at the same time."

Tannehill admitted the 48 hours he had spent waiting for agent Pat Dye and General Manager Jeff Ireland to come to an agreement were difficult.

"I didn’t want to hold out. It’s just not really my style," he said. "I want to compete, and so it was a long two days of just sitting around waiting. Yeah, I was competing, but there was still some down time where you’re just sitting there and tapping your foot like, ‘Let’s just get this thing done.’ At the end of the day, I feel like we worked out a good deal for both sides."

With Matt Moore getting his second opportunity with the first team in three days, Tannehill did most of his work with the backups, throwing against the second-team secondary.

"He was good," backup cornerback Jonathan Wade said. "He’s been looking good. Not that it matters, but I was kind of like, ‘When is he going to get here?’ But I knew they had to take care of that first."

Starting corner Sean Smith admitted he snuck a look when he got the chance.

"He was definitely slinging the ball around out there," he said. "The biggest thing you could see was his arm. The guy has a cannon."

After starting just 19 games at quarterback in college, where he spent part of his career at receiver, Tannehill is expected to need time to learn how to read NFL defenses and make quicker decisions. But Sherman said the six weeks he spent in the Dolphins’ off-season program have made a difference.

"He’s made a lot of progress. Obviously the game is a lot faster than college, so adjusting to that in itself with your eyes is a big adjustment. But schematically he’s pretty solvent. He understands what we’re trying to get done."

While most observers have opined that the starting job will be a battle between Moore and David Garrard while Tannehill is brought along slowly, Tannehill said he remains confident he’ll be given his chance.

"I feel like I’m in it," he said. "I may be naïve, but the coaches haven’t given me any indication that I’m not. So I’m going to go out there every day and do my best to get better and hopefully win the job."

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